David Birch said about The Good Estate Agent

Services : Sales( Prospective Vendor/Buyer )Date: 4th Sep 2021

Re: Bagshaws Residential:

I believe in these days of data protection, corporate power and wrong doings, you may be interested in my story.
My wife and I wanted to buy a home in Mickleover, Derby, and I approached the estate agent selling the house we wished to purchase, “Bagshaws Residential” who have offices/shops in Mickleover, Derby and other places. They accepted the bid and said they would pass the offer onto the vendor/owner of the property and stated that they wished to discuss matters appertaining to our offer. The first thing to happen was that they instructed me to visit the Mickleover branch at 8-30 am the next morning (Saturday) to discuss mortgage protection if my bid was to be taken seriously. I informed them that I didn't need a mortgage however they still insisted on the interview. The Mickleover branch was closed. I waited forty minutes before telephoning a Mr Malik of Bagshaws Residential in Derby. He arranged for another interview with him in Derby, later that day.
He asked me to bring with me proof of funds and mortgage offer and some other documentation under the guise of “Mortgage protection”.
I duly arrived for the interview to find that they would not even accept or look at my proof of funds or my mortgage offer until I agreed to hear all the mortgage offers they had to offer. They then asked that I produce credit account, bank account details for them to copy and keep in their storage or otherwise they would simply say to the seller of the property that they could not confirm my funds to purchase the property in question and therefore could not recommend our offer to the seller.
I asked if they were demanding the two sets of information or were just asking and they said demanding, if I wanted my details to be verified to the seller.
I pointed out to them that the seller/vendor of the property would not care for me listening to their mortgage offers or producing my financial details for them to copy and keep only that she /the vendor would want to sell her house for a good price and have proof of funds.
Later I suggested to them that I would have had the winning bid as otherwise I wouldn’t be asked to go to all this bother with them and they said not. They stated that it’s a process that they have with every offer they receive and that yes, they do keep the bidders’ financial details and inform them of their mortgage offers 100% of the time.
I have had two meetings with Bagshaws Residential management, and they point blank informed me that they would not say to the vendor that my proof of funds is not robust no matter how large my offer was unless I hear their mortgage offers and let them keep my financial details.

These demands if you think about it are not in their customers / seller’s interest as I for one would not pass on my banking details under these circumstances and therefore cancelled my offer.
I would have offered up to a further £20,000 more for the property if all had been acceptable to me.
I have written to the head office of Bagshaws residential, the seller and to the "Data Protection office, ICO my concerns regarding these matters.

Regards

David Birch

The UK's Largest Customer Review Website for the Property Industry